At the age of 16, Qureshi joined the Labour Party and became active in local politics.[5]

She stood, unsuccessfully, for Labour in the London constituency of Brent East in 2005.[2] She has worked as a human rights advisor to the former London mayor Ken Livingstone[2] and previously headed the criminal legal section of the UN Mission in Kosovo.[2] Qureshi previously chaired the Human Rights and Civil Liberties Working Group of the Association of Muslim Lawyers and was President of the Pakistan Club (UK).[4]

In May 2014, Qureshi opposed mandatory labelling of meat coming from animals killed by halal and kosher methods. She claimed halal slaughtering can be significantly less painful for animals than the more widespread method of stunning, saying "a myth is being perpetuated that somehow kosher and halal methods, carried out as they should be, are more painful and cause more suffering to the animal, but that is incorrect."[7][8]